Of AlmostDuels And NearlyFriends
by Noir Lime Canuto
Summary: Continuing from the epilogue. The story of Rose, Albus, James, Scorpius, and all of the generation that followed our heroes, though mainly it focuses on those in the first year...


_Disclaimer: This universe and the characters within it are not my own. They belong to J.K. Rowling, and all other not aforementioned respective owners. This is a work of fan fiction that no one will be profiting off of. No copyright infringement is intended._

_ **Of Almost-Duels And Nearly-Friends**_

___Chapter 1_

As soon as he was sure his father was completely out of sight, Albus sat down in his seat.

"So," he said, grinning, "What house do you reckon we'll be in?"

"Gryffindor, or something. Anyway, Al, that's not what's important right now."

The small boy ran a hand through his already messy hair, pausing before he asked, "Er, What's important, then?"

"That boy, of course."

"That boy?"

"You know. Scorpius, I think his name was? That one my dad pointed out."

"Oh, right before James came over?"

"Yeah, him."

"What about him?"

"We've got to find him, of course!"

"Sorry, I don't think I'm following. We have to find him?"

"Yeah."

"After Uncle Ron said not to be his friend?"

"Yup."

"Oh, right, now I get it. _Because_ he said to avoid the kid, you're gonna find him?"

"Merlin, Al, you don't have to come with."

"No, I'm coming, it's just, I mean, what if he's a jerk?"

"Mum didn't think he would be."

"She never says _anyone_'s a jerk."

"Eh, I'll give you that. She won't even admit that Jamesie's a liar."

Albus felt his anxiety and excitement dying down a little, which was refreshing, as being excited put him on edge, which, in turn, vaguely excited him, and so on.

"You'd better not call him that around his friends," he murmured, stifling a laugh. "He'll curse you."

"He wouldn't dare."

"Right, he'll curse _me_, which is worse."

"Anyway," Rose murmured, grinning as she stood up, "You coming, or what?"

"Fine."

It only took a couple of tries before they found the compartment with the pale boy in it. He wasn't entirely alone, though. A girl sat across from him, a dark haired girl with round features who didn't look any older than them. When they walked in, she didn't look up, though she shifted in her seat so that she faced more towards the window than the door.

Across from her sat the boy they'd been looking for. He had sharp, pale features, though there seemed to be a soft sort of kindness about him. He looked up at them with steel-gray eyes.

"Hello, mind if we join you?" Rose asked, smiling, though appearing a little embarrassed. Albus figured she was faking, though, because he'd never known her to be shy.

"Um, no, not at all," the boy said, returning a weak smile as he moved a bit more towards the window. He looked them over, then asked, "Er, don't you have luggage?"

"Right," said Rose, actually turning a little pink, "Think we left that in the compartment we were just in. Probably should wait a while before we get it, bit of a duel taking place in there." Albus was about to shoot her qeustioning look, but thought better of it.

"Oh. Should we let someone know?" the boy seemed startled at the prospect of a duel, which relieved Albus a little to notice.

"Nah, no real hexing going on. Anyway," she held out her hand, smiling broadly, "Pleased to meet you. My name is Rose."

The boy stood up, nearly tripping as he did, and took her hand, shaking it gently before releasing it. "I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy."

Albus nodded a little awkwardly, saying, after a beat, "Right, I'm Albus Potter."

The paler boy nodded in return, then sat down. Rose sat down next to him, still smiling. "My last name's Weasley," she announced, "Al's my cousin, you see."

"Oh," the boy said, his eyebrows raising, "Like Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"Yeah!" Rose said, nodding, her smile broadening.

"Cool!" the boy said, then he rummaged in his bag. "I have one of their... um..." his voice trailed away and he froze, looking into his bag, his face slowly tinging with pink. "Fainting fancies," he finished, "A pack of them, I mean."

Albus tried to peer around Rose and see what was in the bag as subtly as possible, but found he couldn't do it subtly.

"Yeah, they're really handy, I hear," Rose murmured, pretending like she hadn't noticed whatever had just taken place.

"Er, yeah," the pale boy looked around the compartment, apparently hoping a different subject was hidden somewhere inside it. His gaze rested, finally, on the girl sitting across from them. "That's Cheyenne Davies, by the way. She likes, um, reading."

"Yeah, I figured," Rose said, grinning, "What d'you suppose she's reading?"

The three looked expectedly at the girl, but she didn't indicate, except in scowling down at the book, that she'd been listening. Albus and Scorpius exchanged somewhat nervous glances.

"A _heated romance novel_, do you think?" Rose spoke especially loudly for someone who was speaking to the people on either side of them.

This time the girl gave a sort of a huff, but still didn't look up.

"Or maybe a really_ fascinating_ book on Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Rose suggested, giggling at the prospect.

The girl bit her lip, then set her book down in her lap, glaring at Rose. "Listen, you asinine simpleton, you wouldn't know fascinating if it charmed you in the face. Speaking of which," she wrinkled her nose as she looked Rose up and down, "You could do to have someone charm your face a bit. Bit advanced for a fool like you, though, innit? Maybe 'accio decent-looks' will work?"

Rose's ears were burning red, along with the rest of her face. "Read about that in your book, did you? I think you skipped the chapter where it mentioned that I'm not the sort of person you want to start a fight with."

"Oh, did I? I thought it mentioned something like that on chapter three, you know, where it said it's not playing fair to pick on someone much, much dumber than you?"

"Tell me, was that before, or after the puppy and his friends found the magic wand? Or have you moved on to level 2 easy-reads-for-witches?"

"Oh how your mind will be blown when you realize that other little witches don't read easy-reads-for-witches, Weasely."

"Won't hurt when _your _mind is blown, there's _lots_ of room in there, I'm sure an explosion wouldn't do much."

"Speaking of explosions," just as the dark haired girl had drawn her wand, the compartment door opened.

"Hey, I thought I'd--" James Potter broke off mid-sentence, looking from his cousins, to the bookish girl, to the bookish girl's wand, to Rose's empty hand. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, his own wand drawn before most of the compartment realized he was there.

Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and the wand's owner watched in shock as it flew across the compartment. James, however, didn't look surprised in the least. In fact, he looked a little smug, smugger when he saw the younger students' shocked expressions.

"What's all this then?" he asked, wearing a lopsided grin.

"I, um, and she, well, but, I didn't, and then..." Rose stuttered, still staring where the wand lay on the floor.

"I was defending myself!" the girl called Cheyenne Davies announced, seeming to have recomposed herself. "That student threatened to make my head _explode_."

Her explanation didn't seem to have the desired effect, though, as the older student just started laughing, "Really, Rosie? Explode her head? C'mon, you can come up with something more frightening that that. Remember that time I accidentally vanished your pygmy puff?"

Scorpius seemed to redden a bit at 'pygmy puff,' but of course no one noticed. Rose was still looking at the wand, Cheyenne was looking from Rose to James, clearly trying to make some sort of connection, before finally she looked at Albus, who, in turn, was looking at her, clearly afraid she was going to do something to him despite her lack of a wand and his older brother's presence.

"Anyway," James said, still grinning as he looked at the younger kids, "Be sure to change into your uniforms, and get into Gryffindor." Then he seemed to notice Scorpius for the first time, and frowned, "Were you on her side?" he asked, gesturing towards the bookish girl. Scorpius shook his head no. "Are you just saying that because I've got a wand?" he asked, grinning as the boy shook his head no again. "Good, you'll do well in Gryffindor, too, then." Then he ducked back out of the compartment.

"Gryffindor isn't the best house, you know," the girl called Cheyenne Davies said as soon as she was sure the older boy was out of hearing distance. She picked up her wand, but put tucked it in her robes, clearly not wanting to explode anything now that she knew there was someone who might come after her.

"Is too," Albus said, frowning. "My dad and mum were in Gryffindor."

"Mine, too," said Rose, grinning, "But I figure the other houses are alright. I wouldn't mind being in one of 'em. I kinda wanna be in Slytherin."

"My dad was in Slytherin," Scorpius said, nodding. When he felt the others eying him, he added, "My mum was in Hufflepuff, though."

"Oh, of course your dad was in Slytherin," the girl said, lifting up her book as she rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Rose said, glaring at the girl. Scorpius looked like he was about to say something, but the girl spoke first.

"What I _mean_ is, his father was Draco Malfoy. Must've been, Lucius only had one child."

"Who's Lucius?" Albus asked, hoping it'd change the topic.

The girl didn't look like she found any of it funny, but she started laughing. "_Lucius Malfoy_ was a death-eater."

Rose and Albus exchanged glances, and Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"How do you _eat_ death?" Albus asked, wrinkling his nose at the thought.

The girl rolled her eyes. "They didn't actually eat it, you nincompoop," she ignored Rose snickering as she added, "They supported _You-Know-Who_."

Rose bit back giggles, "I'm sorry, I don't think we've read the right books. _We-don't-know-who_. Care to explain?"

Looking absolutely scandalized, the girl hushed her voice, "You know, Lord _V_-_O_-_L_-" but Scorpius cut her off.

"Voldemort. He was a bad wizard, he killed and tortured countless innocent people. Death-eaters were wizards who thought he was doing a good thing, and helped him with it."

Rose no longer bore a hint of a smile. "I think I _have_ heard of him, actually," the girl sitting across rolled her eyes and returned to her book, "Teddy was telling me about him a while ago. Dad's mentioned him, too, I think. My parents fought against him in the second war, and Teddy's died fighting him."

Scorpius nodded, "Yeah, well, he's famous, but most people don't say his name. My dad does, though. But, I mean, he doesn't talk about him to me, really. I've just heard him talking with my mum about it, before, about things he remembers, or something."

There was a sort of respectful silence, before Rose said, "Wanna play exploding snap?"

"No."

"Wasn't asking you, Davies."

_Author's Note: I've been fiddling with this for a while now, see, I've wanted to do a next generation Fanfiction for ages, but they always come out awful. Well, I hope this try didn't, haha. If it did, please let me know [and if you tell me why, too, I'll be ever to grateful] in a review, as I dunno whether or not to continue this one._

_Thanks for reading! And double that to those of you kind enough to review! Have a lovely day!_


End file.
